Tense, high head carriage-advice?!

I

iloveCharlie5

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 February 2012
Messages
104
Visit site
Recently got a new connie, gorgeous to ride. However, his qualms are that he carries his head ridiculously high whilst being ridden, which makes him hard to sit to and he also is always quite tense, he refuses to bring his head down and come onto the bit and accept contact; he is well schooled and always scored over 60% in dressage tests despite only being 7 and a late starter. He is such a sweet pony, but when you get on suddenly everything is going to eat him and his head goes straight up, and if you apply contact it just gets higher and higher. He finds it hard to keep focused on me and what i'm asking him to do, too; everything else is always so much more exciting. He has been with me for about 3-4 weeks now and has settled in really well but his behaviour in the arena has not changed from this. He goes in a baucher and likes it, but it doesn't really make a difference than his loose ring. Any advice? Much appreciated, thanks x
 
Easier said than done, but try not to fight him and fall into the trap of shortening your reins. You need to have enough length of rein for him to go forward into a contact when he is ready to accept you. You will also need to find the balance between slowing your rising and putting your leg on to push him into your hand. Although slowing your rising on a hollow, rushing horse is no mean feat.
Also don't forget the golden rule of getting his teeth, back and tack checked.
 
High head carriage begets a vicious circle, pain, tension, high carriage... They all feed each other... Personally I'm not persuaded that any exercises are a certain fix. By the time it becomes an issue, something like massage therapy or physio is the treatment needed. Some horses have a tendency to high head carriage, and some people excuse this way of going because of breeding, but with a little work and treatment you can change this and make it far more comfortable for your horse. This was my mare:

380057_333743586636023_1632669900_n.jpg


This was her after one session with a equine massage therapist (£35)
522550_425623114114736_1274002681_n.jpg


545775_425621140781600_811323651_n.jpg


Pay for a professional to loosen up those tense and tight muscles that are causing pain and the head carriage will drop instantly. From there, you will have to reestablish working in balance and developing even distribution of muscles, but as above, you can see the difference that just one decent session makes. If you are in the south west I can reccommend someone.
 
Last edited:
Thankyou all for your advice, he is checked and pain free, thanks caseycat for your advice and queenbee for sharing your own experience.
Anybody got any schooling exercises that might help?
 
Circles, circles and yet more circles! Serpentines, loops, transitions between and within paces.

Trotting poles and lunging with side reins.

As he is a newby to you it may just be a guestion of finding the right buttons to push.

If you have gone through all the health checks, teeth, back, neck etc and checked that the saddle is fitting well then it will be just a matter of time.

It could also be that you have a hot seat and may need to learn to keep your bum very quiet.

I used to be able to fire anything up - it took a while but I can sit quiet now.

HAve you talked to the old owner to find out how they got him to work correctly?
 
I've had a couple of tense ponies prone to high head carriage and found no quick fix - as already suggested avoid shortening your reins and getting into a fight with him as that will exacerbate the problem. Try to relax as much as you can and reward any relaxation and stretching downwards by him (even if it's only momentary) immediately by lightening the contact further and praising him. Start in walk and as it slowly improves gradually progress to trot and then canter. Plenty of pole work including raised poles will encourage him to use himself properly and lower his head.
Agree that it would be worth asking the previous owners as if he was scoring well in dressage it sounds like they didn't have the same problem.
 
Try doing more regular [3/4 x ten min sessions per week] groundwork with a roller and two long reins, see if he will relax and lower this way. It is a matter of building the correct muscle framework. You can try draw reins but in my experience people who are good enough riders to use these are good enough to do without them.
Plenty of walking on a long rein is particularly important during schooling lessons and is often omitted. When hacking out, rub the topline of the neck near the mane, and scratch nearer the withers in order to ask for relaxation. It may help if an older horse goes out with you and takes the lead.
I also suggest you do some light massage exercises and slow relaxing grooming sessions so you know your horse better. Take 20 mins to do this every day rather than a quick flick.
Try a magnesium calmer like Feedmark Steady-up which will probably help. If it makes a difference after 10-15 days at full dose then you know you have to supplement his diet.
Oh I forgot about the voice aids ......... use these to ask for transitions, you will have him doing it with your groundwork.
If all else fails use distraction technique......... singing is a great expression of relief from tension for you and for him.
 
Last edited:
Alternative advice from a crappy rider, who doesn't 'do' dressage, but who does produce relaxed horses:

Relax; hack him out on the buckle. Show him the world, and let him get used to you whilst he grows in confidence. Don't try to push him into a contact until he's settled and ready for you.

That's what I would do, anyway.
 
We had one of these, again a Connie. He also has a very big trot and somehow you'd end up with your hands by his ears and didn't know how they'd got there. Nothing physically wrong. We had loads of lessons to teach my daughter how to slow things down and the pony to accept her leg which was the real issue. Disappointingly he still won't do dressage, beautiful warm up then he sees the white boards and it all goes to pot! One other thing, Connies can be difficult to bit comfortably, they are prone to fat tongues and fleshy bars so if you've changed his bit, think of that.
 
Look up Philippe Karl and try a different approach. Retraining starts with ground exercises which teach horse to accept the bit. I really rate his book The Twisted Truth of Modern Dressage. Also Gerd Heuschmann method which is a version of PKs approach.
Your horse has learned to adopt this position for a reason so you need to convince him that it's no longer necessary
 
Lots of good ideas above but it can be hard to tell what's happening when you are on top. I suggest that you get a good instructor to work with you on helping you both to relax.
 
yep, forgot to mention that, use a BHSII if you can find one, they really know their stuff. I paid mine to ride my horse, as I am beyond redemption when it comes to schooling.
 
Last edited:
I'd start by having a look at his feed - this is something new as he doesn't seem to have done it at his old home. Unless he's skinny I'd take him off everything except hay and grass. Try that for a couple of weeks.

Are you using the same saddle you tried him in? Did he have his head in the air when you tried him?
 
IM another with a Connie with high head carriage though i think we have cracked it! By upping exercise! He has a beautiful head carriage WHEN he is relaxed and not thinking ordinary objects will eat him, so we upped the exercise levels , also introduced lunging with side reins . All arena work consists of lots and lots of circles, serpentines, spirals, flexing and basic lateral work - keeps his mind busy as he doesn't know what im going to ask him to do next where as laps of arena he predicts , finds things to look at and gets tense, resulting in higher head carriage he is now relaxing his head carriage within about 15 mins as opposed to just at end of a session. Also with him variety is key, lots of hacking out and jumping ..
 
TrasaM said:
Look up Philippe Karl and try a different approach. Retraining starts with ground exercises which teach horse to accept the bit. I really rate his book The Twisted Truth of Modern Dressage. Also Gerd Heuschmann method which is a version of PKs approach.
Your horse has learned to adopt this position for a reason so you need to convince him that it's no longer necessary
Click to expand...

Love the name of the book - if people used the classical system of training - time and patience they might not have problems in the first place.

When I think that I've only ever used a single jointed snaffle on all mine - regardless of breed and had no trouble - makes you wonder what the riders are actually doing rather than the bit!
 
pennyturner said:
Alternative advice from a crappy rider, who doesn't 'do' dressage, but who does produce relaxed horses:

Relax; hack him out on the buckle. Show him the world, and let him get used to you whilst he grows in confidence. Don't try to push him into a contact until he's settled and ready for you.

That's what I would do, anyway.
Click to expand...

Same here although I added a super fat sheepskin around the noseband too, so my mare had to drop her nose down and look over the top to see where she was going. It worked a treat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top